Teacher`s Concern Jeopardized Career

GARY STEIN

If you want to know what the suspicion of some community members can do to a person, consider what Bill Bailey went through for the past eight months.

In particular, consider when Bailey applied for a job a couple of months ago at a north Broward County fast-food joint.

Bailey had been a teacher for 22 years, the past 20 in Broward. But he found himself suspended from his job at Markham Elementary School in Pompano Beach last November because of charges that he tried to lure male students to his home and allowed adult friends to proposition the boys.

While waiting for a ruling on the case, Bailey still had to support himself. So 43-year-old Bill Bailey went to a fast-food joint and looked for any kind of job -- cashier, cook, cleaning floors, whatever.

``I wasn`t ashamed`` about applying for work at a fast-food restaurant, said Bailey, who added that friends and family were highly supportive the past few months.

``I knew I wasn`t guilty. I knew the accusations weren`t true. I was just worried about getting a source of income to pay my bills.``

Bailey`s attorney had instructed him to tell the truth about being suspended from his teaching job. Bailey said he did that when applying for the job at the fast-food joint.

He didn`t get the job.

BACKGROUND SHAPES THE MAN

Child abuse suspicion has changed attitudes throughout society, not just in the teaching profession.

I know that when I would come to a stoplight and the car in front of me had a little kid sitting in the back seat looking around, I would always wave and wait for the kid to wave back. Now, I find myself wondering what the parent might think.

But the Bailey situation is much more important than that. This is a man whose career almost went down the drain.

Recently, it was ruled that the evidence did not support the allegations against Bailey. A hearing officer for the Florida Department of Administration recommended that Bailey be reinstated to a teaching position.

The ruling referred to Bailey as a ``caring individual,`` and his background explains a lot of that.

He is one of 13 children born and raised in the same house in Deerfield Beach. In addition to the 13 children, Ethel and Bob Bailey helped raise 15 other children who came their way because of a variety of circumstances.

``We had anywhere from 19 to 24 people in our house at any one time,`` Bill Bailey said. ``My mother and father never ran a child away from their home.

``It was a family with closeness, love, caring.

``I thought it was good sense that you care for people. Those who are deprived, you assist. It was automatically done in my house.``

CARING CAN BE MISUNDERSTOOD

Nowadays, caring can be misunderstood. Broward teachers have even been advised, by their union, against hugging students.

Bailey says he has always tried to help students.

``I bought them clothes and food, took `em to movies,`` Bailey said.

According to the ruling of the hearing officer, Bailey ``... was a truly dedicated teacher whose off-campus, non-instructional contacts with his students were almost always with the consent of the parents involved. He was known to be a caring individual who had an ability to relate to wayward youth who, as a rule, benefited from their relationship with him.``

And perhaps those kids benefited from the way Bailey was raised. But because of suspicion, his career was jeopardized.

``The community needs to see that not everybody is out to harm kids,`` Bailey said.

``What will happen when a kid comes up to hug a teacher, and embraces you? What stance will those who lead the system take when the kid is the one that reaches out?

``One of the things I`m afraid of is you`re going to lose quality, profound educators. They`ll be afraid of what will happen to them just by being positive with children.``